[EPITHET ALERT: The following post uses a racial slur, in quotes, because I believe (1) a quote is a quote, (2) "bleeping" slurs or using cutesy locutions like "the n word" fetishize the term and make it more powerful and (3) conversely, they make the quote easier to take, which it should not be. That said, if you’re offended by such
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Pop-cultural train wreck averted: News Corp. announced that it is canceling the publication of If I Did It–O. J. Simpson’s book describing how he would have, um, hypothetically murdered the mother of his children and her friend in 1994–and the Fox special, connected with the book, planned for next week. In a statement issued today,
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It’s been a silent week at Tuned In (speaking of which, what gives, people? I turn my back for a week and you give O. J. Simpson a freaking TV show?), but in the print edition of Time magazine, Tuned In Enterprises continued churning out product: this week, on the immigration wars (or lack thereof) in primetime TV. In which we ask, if
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Like those teases at Lost, Tuned In will be away this week. Unlike Lost, I’ll be returning next week. (I could not talk my editors into a three-month hiatus, returning in February. Nor, for some reason, are they willing to base me in Hawaii.) Posting will be sporadic, but keep checking your bookmark anyway, because, well, I need the
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60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley died of leukemia today at age 65. His condition was not widely publicized–he was still doing big pieces for the newsmagazine this fall, in his 26th season–so his death would have struck a chord regardless, but he will also be missed for who he was. It’s common for a famous journalist to get an
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SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched last night’s Lost yet… well, you’ve got a mere three months to get around to it.
Last night, for the first time, I wished that I were not watching Lost. Not because I don’t still love the show (I do) or because the episode had problems (though it did). But because it’s clear that it was a bad idea …
Here at Tuned In, we tend to focus on midseason ratings more than midterm returns, but tonight, for you our dear friends, something different: at the Time Midterm Blog (bookmark it now!), I’ll be liveblogging the midterm coverage and election returns with columnist Joe Klein and Time.com Washington editor Ana Marie Cox. That’s right: one
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You feel as if your life is being influenced, unbeknownst to you, by the actions of strangers thousands of miles away. Are you: (a) paranoid, (b) a typical anxious citizen of the globalization era, or (c) a character in a watercooler-buzzed movie or TV series? In this week’s print edition of TIME, the latest installment of my Culture …
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read this post before watching last night’s Lost, or you’ll learn that… that… sniff… excuse me…
Almost since Lost began, fans have whined and complained that the deaths on the series have been convenient and wussified–targeting less-popular, peripheral characters (Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby) or
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After a career of giving away cars and appliances and making the dogs and cats of America cross their legs uncomfortably at the end of every Showcase Showdown, The Price Is Right host and spaying-and-neutering advocate Bob Barker, 82, is hanging up his microphone as of June.
Genial, laid-back and just corny enough on camera, Barker is
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There’s a little less truthiness and a bit fewer moments of Zen on YouTube today, as Comedy Central has aggressively leaned on the viral-video-sharing site to take down segments of its shows, including The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. Interesting move, that: a cable channel whose existence depends on getting the attention of
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In the cuneiform-engraved, buy-it-and-hold-it-in-your-hands print version of Time magazine this week, an edition of my "Culture Complex" column, expanding on my post last week about the Michael J. Fox affair. While episodes like the Sen. George Allen "macaca" incident have spread hype about "The YouTube election," the Fox ad — which
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Tonight at 10 p.m. E.T., NBC gives what may turn out to be one last, best chance for the best new drama of the season, one that viewers have ignored despite its intelligence, heart and emotional resonance. No, I haven’t changed my mind about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, nor have I been drinking. For one night only, NBC is turning over
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